# Apple Mac Studio M5 Max 128GB for local LLMs

> A quiet 128GB machine with more than twice the bandwidth of Strix Halo or DGX Spark.

The M5 Max 128GB has 128GB of unified memory (about 96GB usable by the GPU by default) and 614 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which decides how big a model fits and how fast it generates text. It comfortably runs models up to about 122B parameters: the largest in our catalog is Qwen3.5 122B-A10B at Q4_K_M (77GB with 8K context, ~34 tokens/sec).

## Key specs

- Memory: 128GB LPDDR5X (unified; ~96GB usable by the GPU by default)
- Memory bandwidth: 614 GB/s
- Architecture: Apple M5 Max (2026)
- Power: 480W
- Typical price: ~$5,100 (checked 2026-10)
- Software: Metal, MLX

## Best models for this GPU

- **Best overall (also coding, reasoning, vision, largest that fits):** Qwen3.5 122B-A10B at Q4_K_M, ~77.0GB with 8K context, ~34 tokens/sec
- **Runner-up:** Qwen3.6 35B-A3B at Q8_0, ~41.0GB with 8K context, ~56 tokens/sec
- **Fastest good model:** gpt-oss-20b at MXFP4, ~15.0GB with 8K context, ~73 tokens/sec

## Compatibility (best quantization that fits, 8K context)

| Model | Params | Quant | Memory | Speed | Verdict |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8B | Q8_0 | 10.5GB | ~40 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9B | Q8_0 | 12.0GB | ~35 tok/s | Runs well |
| Phi-4 | 14.7B | Q8_0 | 18.3GB | ~25 tok/s | Runs well |
| gpt-oss-20b | 20.9B (3.6B active) | MXFP4 | 15.0GB | ~73 tok/s | Runs well |
| Gemma 4 26B A4B | 26B (3.8B active) | Q8_0 | 29.5GB | ~49 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.8 27B | 27B | Q8_0 | 31.6GB | ~13 tok/s | Runs well |
| Gemma 4 31B | 31B | Q8_0 | 35.9GB | ~12 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | 35B (3B active) | Q8_0 | 41.0GB | ~56 tok/s | Runs well |
| GLM-4.5-Air | 106B (12B active) | Q5_K_M | 79.9GB | ~25 tok/s | Runs well |
| Llama 4 Scout | 109B (17B active) | Q5_K_M | 81.3GB | ~19 tok/s | Runs well |
| gpt-oss-120b | 117B (5.1B active) | MXFP4 | 68.3GB | ~64 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B | 122B (10B active) | Q4_K_M | 77.0GB | ~34 tok/s | Runs well |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 284B (13B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | 320B (18B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| GLM-5.3 | 744B (40B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |

## Pros
- 614 GB/s, more than twice Strix Halo and DGX Spark
- 128GB of unified memory in a quiet desktop
- Strong MLX support

## Cons
- No CUDA support
- Prompt processing slower than NVIDIA GPUs
- Memory is fixed at purchase

Full page: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/mac-studio-m5-max-128gb · Best models: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/mac-studio-m5-max-128gb/best-models

Sources: [Apple Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) tech specs](https://support.apple.com/en-us/128107), [PromptQuorum: M5 Pro vs M5 Max bandwidth and LLM speed](https://www.promptquorum.com/local-llms/apple-silicon-m5-local-llm), [ModelPiper: raising the Metal memory ceiling with iogpu.wired_limit_mb](https://modelpiper.com/blog/iogpu-wired-limit-mb-mac)

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Source: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/mac-studio-m5-max-128gb · Updated October 14, 2026 · Llama Builds. Speeds marked ~ are estimates from our bandwidth model (https://llamabuilds.ai/methodology); measured results are labeled as such.